Asphodels For Your Thoughts | Akeshu

Best served with honey on top

With its quiet atmosphere and laidback vibes, Café Leblanc was never a contender for a place of discovery, but today, Goro Akechi found himself unearthing one of the most astonishing information he had heard this entire year.

"What do you mean you don't like pancakes?" he asked, eyes wide open, jaw slightly parted in half-shock and half-disgust. The black-haired boy behind the bar just shrugged, obviously unaffected by the ace detective's blatant dismay.

"They're...okay, I guess," Akira replied, still maintaining a casual tone on the issue. On the other side of the counter, Goro looked like he just swallowed a spoon whole, his handsome face contorted in disbelief that someone could actually lack passion about pancakes.

The final drops of the coffee Akira was brewing dripped into the carafe, leaving a crater in the powder sitting in the top jar, and Akira set the burner aside before disassembling the instrument and poured the liquid out. He then placed the cup in front of Goro, who was still mulling over what seemed to be the shock of his life.

"What's so bad about pancakes?" the brunette demanded, still unable to accept the statement without further explanation. Evidently, this was a case that warranted further interrogation.

Akira pinched his chin between his fingers and contemplated. A while later, he tried offering an answer, feeble as it was, "They're pretty doughy."

That was not an argument that would hold water, and Akira wasn't surprised when Goro's brows furrowed even deeper.

"Doughy?" Goro questioned incredulously, as if he had just been informed that the sun rose in the west and that the earth was flat.

Akira was flummoxed. Well, technically, pancakes were cakes, and it shouldn't be surprising to describe cakes as doughy, should it? He then tried his luck again, "You know, they can be...rather dense sometimes."

As he sipped on his drink, Goro peered up at Akira, the cup he was holding masking everything but his eyes, and advised, "You should try the fluffy tower pancakes, then. Those are really light—none of these doughy problems you're talking about." He raised one eyebrow to add emphasis to the recommendation.

Akira just nodded, still amused that Goro took such an offense to what was usually a harmless opinion. Who would've guessed that ace detective Goro Akechi was a die-hard pancake fan? If people only judged him based on his calm, composed and collected charades, nobody would ever dare to dream of discovering this side of him. However, Goro usually left his cookie-cutter 3C façade by Leblanc's front door along with his coat whenever he stepped in, and thus, Akira had the pleasure of watching Goro behaving abnormally—which meant him behaving in a more normal, more human way—whenever he was within the confines of Leblanc's walls. To be honest, it was a treat that was even better than pancakes to see Goro being so animated.

"You just haven't met a pancake that you like."

"What?" Akira snapped out of his thoughts and stared at Goro, who was looking at him determinedly.

"I just need to introduce you to great pancakes; those will change your mind."

Akira had always known that Goro's thoughts always ran at a faster speed than others', but he didn't expect the brunette to arrive to this conclusion within less than a cup of coffee without even consulting him once. Before he could even formulate a polite counter-argument, Goro set his empty coffee cup on the saucer with a firm thud, startling him.

"Meet me tomorrow. I'll bring you to one of the best pancake parlours downtown."

Goro then placed some notes and coins to pay for his drink and stood up, deftly collecting his briefcase and coat before disappearing into the night. Akira could only sigh and rub his head. And so, that was the start of their long list of pancake dates.